THE VORTEX: ASHES, ASHES, WE ALL DIE – Lent is about preparing for death

So last Wednesday, lots of Catholics traipsed up the aisles in parishes all over the world and received ashes on their foreheads as they heard the words “repent and believe the Gospel.” Now, that’s certainly true; of course, every day we should repent of our sins and believe the Gospel more deeply and live it out in our lives. But for many who have either forgotten or more likely have never known the traditional words expressed as the ashes are being traced on your forehead, remember “man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return,” spoken by the Lord God and directed toward Adam as he was being cast out of paradise for his sin. That is a lot more in your face, and it should be.read more

THE VORTEX: STUPID, INSULTING, NUTS

And that’s just the beginning.

Some things that the Modernist Church of Nice does are so completely nuts, so insipid, so insane, that it’s almost embarrassing to report on it. Yet, there it is — right out there for the whole world to see. Case in point, the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Iowa, formerly known as the Iowa Catholic Conference. They assembled together a Lenten reflection and meditation book that is 88 pages long for the faithful to read and pray over and reflect on and meditate on to heighten their spiritual awareness for Lent. It has something you can think about and then do for each day of Lent. And the overall thrust of it is not to make you holier, of bringing to mind a sharp awareness of your own mortality, which remember is how Lent begins on Ash Wednesday — nope. The geniuses at the Iowa Catholic Conference have put together a tome on how you can conserve water and develop an awareness of global water quality. Still, think the Church isn’t in crisis?read more

Appointed by Pope Francis to investigate allegations of sex abuse cover-up in Chile, Malta Abp. Charles Scicluna of Malta met with former seminarian Juan Carlos Cruz Saturday at the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Manhattan.

In a discussion described as “intense, detailed and eye-opening,” Cruz detailed for Scicluna his abuse at the hands of Fr. Fernando Karadima and Bp. Juan Barros’ subsequent cover-up of the priest’s crimes.

THE VORTEX: THEY NEED TO KNOW – And they need to know everything

The Church in America has never had a sterling track record when it comes to conversions. But whatever it had been able to accomplish in past decades looks amazing compared to today’s dismal record. As America grows more irreligious owing to the ascent of millions of young people who have no interest in religion, this, coupled with the older people who are more religious dying off, conversions to the Faith have fallen off in a major way. The much-ballyhooed “New Evangelization” is proving to be pretty much a bust according to the bishops’ own record keeping.read more

MICHAEL VORIS: 12 CATHOLIC MYTHS ON THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Michael Voris on the biggest misconceptions about the Catholic Church. The first talk from the Spirit and Truth Conference.

by Michael Voris, S.T.B. • ChurchMilitant.com • February 18, 2018
Michael Voris on the biggest misconceptions about the Catholic Church. The first talk from the Spirit and Truth Conference.
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Revisiting the digitally remastered third season of our flagship show: The One True Faith

People labor under many myths about the Catholic Church. One of the more popular ones is that self-styled Catholic politicians who vote for abortion can receive Holy Communion. In 2004, the U.S. bishops asked Rome if that’s possible, and Rome gave a resounding no.read more

THE VORTEX: QUEER AS A BELL – And they aren’t done yet

In case anyone needed any proof that the homosexualists within the Church see themselves as “on the march,” all you need to do is read their own blogs and publications. Last week, we mentioned a posting in the little-read blog Daily Theology (DT), which had picked up on a New York Times piece maligning Church Militant for calling out Fr. James Martin’s heresy. Well, in a response to that DT posting came another DT posting this week not only poorly thought out but also going through a virtual, top-20-type list of all things gay in the Church, in addition to, of course, bashing Church Militant.read more